1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head drive waveform generation device and a head drive waveform generation method for generating head drive waveforms used for driving a print head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A print head used in an ink-jet printer is driven by head drive waveforms shaped as shown in FIG. 15. The head drive waveforms are sent to piezoelements inside the print head, and the piezoelements suction ink into the head when the head drive waveforms monotonically increase, and eject the ink contained in the head through a nozzle when the waveforms monotonically decrease.
Because the amount of ink ejected from the print head varies with the type of printing paper, the print density, and the like, it is necessary to present the print head with head drive waveforms whose form corresponds to the printing conditions. In addition, the amount of ink ejected from the print head during the transmission of a given head drive waveform depends on the type (characteristics) of ink used or on the ambient temperature.
With a printer having a print head such as that described above, therefore, it is desirable to present the print head with head drive waveforms that correspond to the printing conditions or the printing environment. For this reason, a conventional printer stores a plurality of pieces of head drive waveform data that determine the shape of the head drive waveforms. Such conventional printers, however, have been disadvantageous in that because data that specify the magnitudes (voltage values) of a waveform at moments separated by time intervals AT are used as the head drive waveform data, large-capacity memory is needed to store a plurality of pieces of head drive waveform data, with a resulting increase in the cost of printer manufacturing.